Equipment such as an electronic appliance capable of achieving “zero” consumption during stand-by may comply with various criteria. For instance, the system may default to an inactive (zero consumption) state when plugged and/or the circuit modules including any logic units may be shut down (turned off) when the system is inactive.
Also, activating the system when inactive may involve a human intervention, for example, a remote control unit (InfraRed—IR or RadioFrequency—RF) or a start button to generate a dedicated start-up signal (“start-up stimuli”) acting on a dedicated zero-stand-by start-up circuit for the power supply. Such a circuit may include, e.g., a Switched-Mode Power Supply (SMPS) which may start-up if a voltage VSTUP goes above a start-up threshold VTHstup (e.g. around 12V). In certain implementations, the system may be able to keep running after start-up without the contribution of the start-up circuit itself.